Civil servants at newly opened Government Hub in Peterborough join national strike action

Civil servants working at Peterborough’s newly opened Government Hub have gone on strike today in a dispute over pay and conditions.

The staff from Natural England and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee mounted a picket line outside the six-storey Quay House at Fletton Quays.

Their action coincides with budget day and is part of what is thought to be the biggest walkout nationally since the current wave of industrial action began as teachers, university lecturers, junior doctors, London Underground drivers joined picket lines countrywide.

A spokesperson for the Prospect union said: “Our members working across our public service branches are taking industrial action over pay, threats of job losses, and proposed cuts to redundancy terms.

"They join tens of thousands of our members across the country who are taking action.”

It is the largest industrial action Prospect has taken in more than a decade and the day-long strike will be followed from tomorrow (March 16) by members working to contracted hours and enforcing overtime bans.

Mike Clancy, General Secretary of Prospect, said: “Our members in the public sector have seen their incomes decline by up to 26 per cent over the past 13 years and their work taken for granted – they have had enough.

“Bills are rocketing and pay is falling ever further behind the private sector leaving our members with no option but to take industrial action.

“We will continue our campaign until the government comes up with a meaningful offer. If it doesn’t do so soon, we may be left with no Civil Service to protect.”

The industrial action at Quay House comes just a day after Cabinet Minister Alex Burghart MP was given a tour of the building during which he met and chatted with staff before a presiding over a ribbon cutting ceremony held to mark the official opening of the building, which is a base for 1,000 civil servants, mostly working for the Passport Office and the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.